Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer Tuesday blasted President Donald Trump's nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, saying that the choice allows the president to fulfill his campaign promises of undoing women's reproductive freedom and to undo the Affordable Care Act.
"I will oppose him with everything I've got," the New York Democrat told "CBS This Morning."
"On those two issues, when he campaigned, President Trump said he will only appoint pro-life judges. He wanted to send Roe v. Wade back to the states, that means repeal."
Schumer also complained that Trump's list of judges was "preordained' by the Federalist Society and the Heritage Foundation and questioned who vetted the people given to Trump to consider.
"The Federalist Society is run by a man named Leonard Leo, whose goal in life has been to repeal Roe v. Wade," said Schumer.
Trump has also said he wanted to repeal the Affordable Care Act, said Schumer, and "the Heritage Foundation, which also vetted this list, is firmly in favor of repealing.
"So, you put those things together, Trump, what he said who he was going to choose, and the vetting of this list, this nominee will repeal Roe and women's reproductive freedom, will repeal ACA, far against what the American people want. When the American people learn this, they're going to oppose the nominee."
CBS noted that when Kavanaugh was nominated for his current federal court seat, Schumer asked him specifically about the abortion law, and the judge said he would follow the binding precedent of the court.
"Binding, when you say you'll follow binding precedent, that's been a trick," said Schumer. "Look what happened last week. Justice [John] Roberts, Justice [Neil] Gorsuch, they promised they would follow binding precedent, and they undid 40 years of precedent on labor law. . .
"It is not good enough for them to hide behind this we'll follow existing law, because when they get on the bench, they change."
Schumer said he believes if Democrats can prove to the American people that the president's nominee will lead to a court that repeals Roe v. Wade and the ACA, "we will get a majority of the senate to vote for it. Obviously, even if we had every Democrat, we need two Republicans. But if we can make that case, we will get a majority."
The minority leader also said he doesn't believe Kavanaugh would have been included on the list of potential justices if he wasn't "hard right," and there are several other issues.
"At a time when we have the Mueller investigation, Judge Kavanaugh is way at the extremes," said Schumer. "He believes a president shouldn't even be investigated. He has gone so far as to say a president who believes the law's unconstitutional doesn't have to follow it.
"So, with the Mueller situation, with the overreach of presidential power, we shouldn't put him on the bench. And then, on gun rights, on LGBTQ rights, on environmental rights, he's way to the right of the American people. I don't believe because he had law clerks of some sort that that makes him any better."
Schumer, also appearing on MSNBC's "Morning Joe," said Kavanaugh is "not a mainstream judge," and that's why the Federalist Society and the Heritage Foundation "have chosen him, have pre-selected him."
"If Donald Trump chose somebody off the list, we might be in a different situation," said Schumer. "But the fact that the president campaigned on these things and created his own litmus tests, this is an extreme nominee."